I don't see many people around me even asking about M.2, so I can't really comment about that, but if you decide to go without, I just picked the Gigabyte Z97N-WIFI, and it's a great board. No 3 fan headers, but in a small ITX case, what on earth are you using that many fans for? You'd need CPU and ...

BSOD 7B is specifically related to hard disk access. You may have 1) another bad drive 2) a bad SATA cable 3) a bad motherboard, or failing hard drive controller. If you pull the drive and connect it to a different machine (using a new/different SATA cable, are you able to run a file system check an...

Thanks for the review. Ive always loved that case. I just can't justify the cost (especially since the first thing id do is cut a hole in the top for a 160mm+ tower heat sink to stick out of it.. :D). I bet if it was half the price, they'ed probably sell 10 times as many. I agree 100%. It wasn't ea...

I recently decided to take 5 completely different ITX builds and put them into different scenarios at work, and see what they were capable of doing in terms of looks, noise, heat and general ease of use. Two of the builds are for customers, one is for a POS install, and one is for bench work at my s...

I don't think avoiding Asrock is a dated opinion. I've looked around quite a bit for motherboards that have all of the features I'm looking for specifically in builds, and Asrock never seems to managed to hit all the points I'm looking for. Gigabyte and MSI tend to match most of my needs. I've found...

In my experience, Gigabyte and MSI are both great. Asrock is a brand I tend to avoid. Either way, what it really boils down to is what interface will be used. My Dual Xeon rig works beautifully with a FW interface, but I had an identical machine built, and with PCI-e interfaces, there are a unique s...

Whoops, been really busy in the garage lately, try PMing me next time.. What I will say is that the TC Electronic stuff is really nice. I don't see too many people in the US running the gear because we have "cheaper" brands that have the marginal quality people aim for. M-Audio comes to mind (even h...

What specifically do you need thunderbolt for? I jumped on a couple thunderbolt devices, as I got my MacBook Pro because it has ThunderBolt, however to be perfectly honest, it's hardly much use. I don't find myself using the interface often, though I didn't get it for constant use, it's just for che...

As far as MadVR goes, it's just a decoder for playback. Yes, it's GPU assisted, but it's not really related to video editing unless you're using some special codecs. So, more importantly, is this machine for HTPC work, or is it for video editing? There's a big difference. No, it's definitely not a ...

Well, to answer a previous question, no, Premiere Pro doesn't actually use a GPU during rendering. It uses the GPU (when available) during playback to create the preview files. You can select to use those files when rendering, but it's not a default option. If you're a heavy Premiere Pro user, it wo...

I've seen machines do some weird things with bad RAM or a bad CMOS battery. I suspect your real problem may be one of those. An i7 is nothing to sneeze at, so I really think what you need to do is address the noise you're currently dealing with. I do agree however. New Dell machines have very good t...

The biggest thing is that you have to take the motherboard out for installation. If you're not worried about that, then you're good to go.

You can measure the motherboard to the inside lip of the case, and as long as the cooler physically fits, there's no reason it wont work.

When I do a build, the CPU gets installed on the motherboard, and that goes in first. Then I install the power supply, followed by the Optical drive and hard drive(s). Once those are installed, I add fans as needed. Depending on the size of the cooler and where the fans are going, the cooler might o...

Yes, my mistake on that part.

The lower end Xeons may even be a good option for the OP looking for more power with integrated graphics, while staying in the same price range as something that would be a little less powerful.

Firstly, while the Xeon series is "server" class hardware, it's used widely in workstation computers. It's a bit of a misconception to say they're only server class. I do agree with CA Steve. Without knowing what you were using, it's hard to say what's a good idea. Considering you're exporting to lo...

I would totally scratch the APU. If you want to use this as your intro to a professional system, then you need to build it right the first time. A Xeon based machine would very good for you, and does not have to break the bank. In all of my experience, AMD machines have let me down when I've needed ...

Whoops, that whole "across the pond" thing. Once you get yourself set up with an RMA from SeaSonic, you should be all good to go.

A digital multimeter could have cleared your outlet quickly. Output would need to be between 110 and 120VAC consistently. A bad PSU can cause all sorts of issues, such as not starting, to not restarting consistently. This is something most notably seen on low quality power supplies (Bestec is one of...

Takes some extra time, but you can upgrade XP Pro to Vista Business to Win 7 Pro, and then use the key on the COA. Why not just do a clean install with W7 directly? COA keys usually works with clean inställs and retail isos. Now that I think of it, it's possible that the machines has SLP certificat...

I know this is a silly thing to ask, but do any of the machines have Windows 7 Pro COA stickers on them? I had a pair of customers both come in for upgrades, and after some deliberation with my boss about whether or not it would work, I should have bet some money on it. Both machines had XP Pro on t...

Pretty nice build list. What made you opt for the Apple keyboard? I only ask because I did as well, made it easier to plug in my mighty mouse as well. Both work great in Windows 8.1.

I also approve of the white case!

I have seen other people with that same computer in use (or very close variants of it). The key is to simply be using very low wattage components. The 4670T is pretty low power at 45W, but that can be even lower with some i3 CPUs and the Pentiums. This means that under load, you'd be producing so li...

What is your experience with fully fanless systems? Can in your experience a good motherboard and good memory operate without defects for years without _any_ airflow? Yes, fanless is doable, as long as the system is reasonable modest. But don't use such a system for any 24/7 full load work. Fanless...

Ok, I learned the following: in order for the BIOS to startup you need at least 1 ram module inserted, without ram the system/BIOS cannot start up and thus will give no graphics output. It's a good thing you learned that. It applies to every single computer for the past several years. Very few mach...

Have you done any troubleshooting?

Checked other hardware to make sure it's working, hard drive, PSU, etc?

I would completely argue to close the side panels, and also some of the front 5.25" bays I would block off in order to force the air to come in where the drives are. This airflow will keep the drives plenty cool. They do not in fact need lots of airflow, a little goes a long way. Hard Drives do not ...

That's too much.... I would lose the intake fans and side panel fans completely. Run exhaust fans on rear/top only. Let air pressure work it's magic. More fans does not always equal better cooling. For a properly silent PC, fewer fans in thought out positions will work more magic than many fans wher...

Buffalo Raid NAS is very good. I've got a few of them lying around, and prefer them for how easy they are to set up. You can even buy empty ones and put in whatever drives you want. RAID0 or RAID1, you pick in the web setup. Also has remote access if you ever needed that feature. I find them incredi...

I have a busy afternoon, so I'll post a few things now, and a few more later... I use Innovation Cooling Diamond 7 thermal paste. They did a test run here on SPCR some time back (probably 2 years ago now) and the stuff was actually remarkably good. I don't use anything else on my personal stuff anym...

I have never bothered to install any motherboard software outside of drivers because it's problematic, especially for DAWs. If the hardware is set up right, you shouldn't need extra software. Hardware PWM control has come a long way. Not perfect, and some motherboards have poor control, but those ty...